Dividend increase: General Mills

Article Excerpt

GENERAL MILLS INC. $55 (New York symbol GIS; Income-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 576.1 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Dividend yield: 3.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.generalmills.com) is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Big G (cereal), Green Giant (canned and frozen vegetables), Pillsbury (baking dough), Old El Paso (tacos), Progresso (soups and salads) and Yoplait (yogurt). With the August 2017 payment, General Mills will increase its quarterly dividend by 2.1%. Investors will receive $0.49 a share, up from $0.48. The new annual rate of $1.96 yields 3.6%. The company has paid a dividend since 1898, and has now increased that quarterly payment 13 times in the past 10 years. The stock trades at a somewhat high 17.6 times the $3.13 a share that General Mills will likely earn for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2018. General Mills is still a hold. hold…